Grant handed the document to Lee. After reviewing it, Lee informed Grant that the Cavalry men and Artillery men in the Confederate Army owned their horses and asked that they keep them. Grant agreed and Lee wrote a letter formally accepting the surrender. Lee then made his exit.

Fuck you, traitorous losers. Really, what part of "loser" don't you understand?

After suffering HCR defeat at the hands of The Usurper, Hinderaker of Power Line looks over the sea through the piercing gaze of professional paranoid Frank Gaffney ("Who Lost Iraq?" Yes, it's China 1949 again.) & some other cluck's rightist Mid-East analysis; neither cheers him up, but it's a good excuse to get on Obama again. Except then he has to admit how Obama handed him his corn dog.

This is what I don't understand: why doesn't Obama bring to bear on foreign policy the lessons he learned in Chicago? Is "Be a faithless friend and a toothless enemy" the Chicago Way? Hardly. Maybe if Obama could just pretend that Ahmadinejad, Assad, Nasrallah et al. are Republicans....

Say what you will about a parliamentary system, what if it were possible in these United Snakes to call for a dissolution of Congreƒs like these Thai hicks are?

A leader of the anti-government movement known as red-shirts Tuesday called on supporters from all provinces to immediately come to the Thai capital Bangkok for final showdown against the government, local media said.

Late Monday, the UDD announced that they would on Tuesday march to 11 areas, starting from 11:00 a.m. local time, which are banned from entering.

The red-shirts, mainly supporters of the former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra who was ousted in 2006 coup, started occupying the central commercial area last Saturday with roads blocked and shops forced to close to push the government to dissolve parliament and hold early elections.

Source: Xinhua

We'd never hear the end of it whenever the cry-baby reactionaries lost an election. Not that there's no bitching & whining now, but at least they're stuck until the next election.

Monday, April 5, 2010

Intrepid reseachers are invited to spend the several hrs. it will take to uncover just how many have been "thrown in jail" for failure to fill out an ACS form. No research necessary for what gives the Commerce Dep't. the right, though you'd think lawyer Erickson would know it's that census bit in the Constitution, as enacted by Congreƒs.

After asking ourself "Huh?" & "From Whom?" for the last X mos., we finally realized who (other than the "colored guy," obviously) these aging wretches think "took their country" from them. Their children. Who else? And they should be scared of the yout'.

Earlier today:So, we're just as goofy as Chris Matthews; merely earlier to the inane. And we don't invite people to our web log & then cut off their shtick w/ our inane theory, as Matthews does on his program. (Note Richard Wolffe's grimace after Tweety gets going.) As stupid, but still a better human being. Whew.

Another Tea Partier poll, from Gallup, has 28% of "adults" identifying as 'Baggers (many more than the self-proclaimed 17% in the Winston Group undertaking).

Gallup's new survey of the Tea Party movement is instructive for what it didn't find: the movement does not encompass Democrats, including independent-leaning Democrats, or more than half of true Independents. In other words, the 28% or so of adults who say they're Tea Partiers are very much likely to vote Republican when the chips are down.

Yet only eight percent of those Gallup polled claim to be "Democratic," while the Winston Group claimed 13%.

Pay attention to terminology: it's true that just half of those Tea Partiers surveyed called themselves Republicans. Yes, the lion's share of the other half say they're independent. But they're not: they're Republican-oriented conservative voters who are dismayed by the direction of the GOP and who don't want to identify with the party's brand. That's not surprising, given how tarnished that brand is. Only 8% identify as Democratic; 7% identify as liberal; 70% percent identify as conservative; two-thirds are pro-life; nearly 90% were opposed to the health care bill.

Just saw memeorandum, which has several column inches devoted to this (Actual analysis.) so, having highlighted the obvious, we are gone, except to note that Ambinder has the solution to the entire polling, damned lies & statistics problem: Go deep.

Next time, I'd love for Gallup, or any other pollster, really, to ask self-identified Tea Partiers for their vote histories, for their views on immigration and race, for their views on questions about Obama attributes (is he a socialist?), for their specific views on policy matters (do they support a "fair tax?").

Couldn't be tossed around for political advantage or dismissed in 30 seconds of headline reading if they did that though.

Damnit, you crippingly attack our cyber & you deserve to be nuked from the face of the earth.

Breaking News Alert
The New York Times Mon, April 05, 2010 -- 8:15 PM ET
-----
Obama Limits When U.S. Can Use Nuclear Weapons

WASHINGTON -- President Obama said Monday that he was revamping American nuclear strategy to substantially narrow the conditions under which the United States would use nuclear weapons, even in self defense.

The strategy eliminates much of the ambiguity that has deliberately existed in American nuclear policy since the opening days of the Cold War. For the first time, the United States is explicitly committing not to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear states that are in compliance with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, even if they attacked the United States with biological or chemical weapons, or launched a crippling cyberattack.

Sully informs us that Europe has a "less generous and less tort-friendly judicial system."

From which we can only conclude that those whose greatest contribution to the health care reform debate was "Tort Reform! Tort Reform!" wanted America to become more like the socialist cesspool of Europe. Consistency is indeed foolish.

Capitalist scum, floating to the top as always, will get together to "discuss" something economic.

This is such a travesty that it's hard to know where to begin.

For starters, note the prominent role of Robert Rubin and Alan Greenspan. If any two Americans are responsible for the economic, financial and fiscal mess we're in, they are Rubin and Greenspan. Much of the rising deficit, after all, is the result of the financial collapse. The main reason for the big deficits is that tax revenues are down in a severe recession. The financial collapse also required the government to step in with increased public spending.

If the orgy of financial deregulation that led to the crash had two prime sponsors, the Democratic one was Rubin and the Republican one was Greenspan. Inviting these characters to a fiscal summit to devise a way out of the crisis is like inviting arsonists to design a seminar on fire prevention.

Peterson himself, who underwrites the work of the foundation with a billion dollar gift, made his money as one of America's private-equity moguls. Private equity companies have been among main offenders in the world of shadow banking that helped cause the collapse, and are now lobbing against tough financial reform and regulation.

[...]

The Peterson Foundation and its president, David Walker, already know exactly what they want -- strict budget caps on social outlay, enforced by a rigid formula, with cuts in Medicare and Social Security leading the way.

We'd love to see some public action in front of whichever luxury hotel this confab will be occurring in. We wouldn't mind seeing some action inside the event as well. We got your Town Hall meeting right here, exploiters.

Sunday, April 4, 2010

In January, the Hacienda La Puente Unified School District board voted 4 to 1 to adopt a new Chinese language and culture class at Cedarlane next fall, at no cost to the district.

Confucius Classroom is paid for by the Chinese government's Chinese Language Council International, also known as Hanban.

"I am not against the teaching of foreign languages, but this is a propaganda machine from the People's Republic of China that has no place anywhere in the United States," said John Kramer, 73, a former superintendent of the district who has been vocal in the debate.

[...]

Hacienda Heights was more than 36% Asian, primarily Chinese, when the last census was taken in 2000. The area has changed dramatically since longtime residents such as Mary Ann King arrived.

"We don't need to accept money from a Chinese government," said King, who has lived in Hacienda Heights for 42 years and once hosted the children's television show "Romper Room." "If it's funded by them, their doctrine will be part of the curriculum. It's wrong. We don't need to do this to our children."

[...]

Asians now also dominate the school board, 3 to 2. Kramer, the former superintendent, says that could change.

"Our kids need to be taught Americanism," he said. "This board is going to pay a price. I think the community is upset enough to vote them out."

Might as well ship 'em all back to China while you're voting them out, right, Kramer?

And what's all this "need to be taught Americanism" shit? We picked it up on the street, that oughta be good enough for today's little creeps.

Four in 10 Tea Party members are either Democrats or Independents, according to a new national survey.

We're surprised to find out that there are "members" of a "Tea Party." Thought it was all unorganized & random, grass-rooty. No? Or by members do they mean the various hucksters, consultants, former Congressweasels & beneficiaries of corporate largesse who've incorporated & then run bus tours & conventions, & their employees? Is there a Tea Party registered as such in any state in the union, even the ones in which the AGs are claiming that Health Care is unconstitutional?

(We ask only because this all occurred as a result of

three national polls by the Winston Group, a Republican-leaning firm that conducted the surveys on behalf of an education advocacy group.

No, really? "An education advocacy group." Never identified. What sort of education do they advocate that needs to know what the T.P.s think?)

The military workers who maintain those missiles support cities as large as Great Falls, where 40 percent of the economy depends upon Malmstrom Air Force Base, and businesses as small as the Judith Gap Mercantile, where passing airmen buy milkshakes by the dozen. If they follow the missiles out of town, the economies here could be crippled.

The fate of the 450 intercontinental ballistic missiles around Malmstrom, F.E. Warren Air Force Base near Cheyenne, Wyo., and Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota is not yet clear, but politicians and community leaders are ready to fight to keep them. Even if it means not cutting nuclear weapons.

“I would keep Malmstrom at full strength, regardless,” Great Falls Mayor Michael Winters said. “Each and every facet of our economy has something to do with Malmstrom.”

Montana, North Dakota and Wyoming business leaders over the past year have lobbied their congressional delegations, all the while avoiding arguments about whose base is more important, said Dale Steenbergen, president and CEO of the Greater Cheyenne Chamber of Commerce.

Instead, they are trying to persuade Congress to keep the ICBM silos at full strength, arguing that they are relatively cheap to maintain and are more secure compared to bombers and submarines that also carry nuclear weapons.

“You can sink a sub or shoot down a plane. That’s very different from attacking American soil, and that’s what you’d have to do (to get to the ICBM silos),” Steenbergen said.

The proposed treaty would require the U.S. and Russia to reduce their nuclear warheads over the next seven years by 30 percent, to 1,550 from a previous maximum of 2,200. But it doesn’t say where those cuts would come.

That’s expected to be detailed in the Defense Department’s Nuclear Posture Review, a comprehensive strategic review of the U.S. nuclear force. The review could be released as early as next week, Pentagon spokesman Cmdr. Bob Mehal said.

Officials at the Air Force Global Strike Command, which oversees the nation’s nuclear equipped bombers and intercontinental ballistic missiles, declined to comment.

Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev are expected to sign the treaty April 8 in Prague. It must then be ratified by two-thirds of the Senate, where opponents are directing their lobbying.

Sen. Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat, said he is inclined to support ratification and that the reduction of nuclear warheads is an admirable goal. ICBMs like those at Malmstrom are likely to be spared deep cuts because they are cost-effective and could eventually be converted to carry conventional warheads, he said.

“I see no change in American force structure in the foreseeable future,” Baucus said.

Malmstrom’s 341st Missile Wing employs about 4,000 military personnel and civilians to manage its 150 ICBMs. One maintenance duty is to extend the life of aging Minuteman III missiles — the last of which were produced in 1978 — and the Air Force has committed nearly $6.2 billion to such life-extension programs, according to Malmstrom’s Web site.

Quantifying the economic contribution of the three bases on their surrounding communities is difficult, but their importance to those cities and towns is clear.

The bases employ thousands, provide contract work for local businesses and base personnel spend money and pay taxes to the towns. There also is the fierce pride of each community being at the center of the nation’s defense.

Airmen who service and maintain the missiles pass daily through Judith Gap, a town of about 150 in the center of Montana. Residents are used to regular emergency drills that involve lines of Humvees, helicopters overhead and soldiers crouched on hillsides, rifles at the ready. Their advice to a visitor: Don’t stop at the silos to test the security.

The Judith Gap Mercantile, which boasts that its milkshakes are famous worldwide, takes pride in serving the military men and women who make up an estimated 70 percent of its business. A shrine is dedicated to them. Models of missiles, plaques of appreciation and shoulder patches from various military units cover a wall.

“They like to play a little game with us,” said Jancy Kowalski, who makes the milkshakes. “They’ll come in and say, ‘We need 15 milkshakes,’ and we’ve got like 10 minutes to close. They love to do that to us.”

Neither Kowalski nor the few customers in the store Tuesday ventured a guess what losing the military trade would do, but longtime resident Andrew Arneson said it would devastate a farming and ranching community already hurt by recession.

“You’ll find more people going out of business, selling their farms. They can’t take it. Everything’s going downhill,” he said.

One city that has suffered from nuclear arms reductions is Grand Forks, N.D., which lost its 150 ICBMs to Malmstrom in a 1995 Base Realignment and Closure round.

City Councilman Eliot Glassheim said the city hired lobbyists and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to fight the closure, but to no avail. More than 2,000 people left in the years that followed, and the city fell from second to third in the state in population and economy, Glassheim said.

Grand Forks Air Force Base has a new mission supporting unmanned aerial vehicles, but the city has diversified its economy so that it’s not as reliant upon the military.

Steenbergen said he believes the three states can maintain their nuclear manpower and number of operating silos — which can house more than one missile — but may see fewer missiles because of the cuts.

“I think anytime you’re going through this process there’s reason to be concerned, but we don’t want to cry wolf,” Steenbergen said. “I know some folks are getting nervous, but I think they’re leaping to some conclusions.”
___
Associated Press writer Matt Gouras in Helena, Mont., contributed to this report.

"Glenn Beck has done 28 different programs on it," [Nation Senior Editor Richard] Kim says. "There are hundreds of thousands of Google hits on it, and what it suggests is that, basically, the Left has cynically manipulated the system for the past forty-four years to crash the global economy, commit massive voter fraud, elect Barack Obama so we can nationalize the banks, take over the government and install a communist, totalitarian regime."

Kim, author of the recent Nation cover piece "The Mad Tea Party", argues that the strategy has become the meta-narrative for the Tea Party. According to them, in the 1966 article, the Cloward-Piven strategy seeks to flood the system with government bureaucracy, thus creating an economic collapse. They have relied on a web of associations to bring the conspiracy more legitimacy--however illegitimate their claims against the Left may be. Now, the Right is working hard to corral the craziness and harness the conspiracy to their cause.

There's one more paragraph. "Mad Tea Party" looks good too. We're always amused to discover what's been misrepresented, twisted or used as the vaguest possible basis for the paranoid fantasies these cretins delight in.

Today is Easter Sunday, April 4, the 94th day of 2010. There are 271 days left in the year.Today’s Highlight in History:On April 4, 1968, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., 39, was shot to death at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tenn. (James Earl Ray later pleaded guilty to assassinating King, then spent the rest of his life claiming his innocence before dying in prison in 1998.)On this date:In 1818, Congress decided the flag of the United States would consist of 13 red and white stripes and 20 stars, with a new star to be added for every new state of the Union.In 1841, President William Henry Harrison succumbed to pneumonia one month after his inaugural, becoming the first U.S. chief executive to die in office.In 1850, the city of Los Angeles was incorporated.In 1859, “Dixie” was performed publicly for the first time by Bryant’s Minstrels at Mechanics’ Hall in New York. (The song is popularly attributed to Daniel Decatur Emmett, although his authorship has been called into question.)In 1887, Susanna Medora Salter was elected as the first woman mayor in the United States, serving for one year as head of the municipal government of Argonia, Kan.In 1896, the Yukon gold rush began with the announcement of a strike in the Northwest Territory of Canada.In 1945, U.S. troops on Okinawa encountered the first significant resistance from Japanese forces at the Machinato Line.In 1949, 12 nations, including the United States, signed the North Atlantic Treaty in Washington, D.C.In 1975, more than 130 people, most of them children, were killed when a U.S. Air Force transport plane evacuating Vietnamese orphans crash-landed shortly after take-off from Saigon. Microsoft was founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen.In 1979, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the deposed prime minister of Pakistan, was hanged after he was convicted of conspiring to murder a political opponent.In 1983, the space shuttle Challenger roared into orbit on its maiden voyage.In 1991, U.S. Sen. John Heinz, R-Pa., and four others were killed when their chartered airplane collided with a helicopter near Philadelphia.In 1992, Sam Moore Walton, founder of Wal-Mart, died of cancer at 74. His retail store chain helped make him one of the world's richest men.In 1993, U.S. President Bill Clinton and Russian President Boris Yeltsin ended a two-day summit in Canada, with a larger than expected U.S. aid pledge of $1.62 billion.In 1999, NATO warplanes and missiles attacked an army headquarters, oil refineries and other targets in and around Belgrade, Yugoslavia. The Colorado Rockies beat the San Diego Padres 8-2 in baseball's first season opener held in Mexico.In 2000, in a volatile day on the U.S. stock market, the Nasdaq composite index and the Dow Jones industrial average each plunged more than 500 points before reversing course as buyers flooded back into the market.In 2001, former Philippine President Joseph Estrada, ousted in January during a popular uprising, was indicted for allegedly taking millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks.In 2002, as Israel stepped up its attacks on Palestinians on the West Bank, U.S. President George W. Bush demanded Israelis stop and pull back.In 2003, coalition forces encircled Baghdad and secured Saddam International Airport in overnight fighting.In 2004, three explosions killed five people and hurt at least 100 others at a residential housing compound in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Supporters of Muqtada al-Sadr, an anti-American cleric, rioted in four Iraqi cities, killing dozens of Iraqis, eight U.S. troops and a Salvadoran soldier.In 2005, tens of thousands of pilgrims paid their final respects to Pope John Paul II after his body was carried on a crimson platform to St. Peter’s Basilica. The Supreme Court ruled creditors could not seize the Individual Retirement Accounts of bankrupt people. The Los Angeles Times and The Wall Street Journal captured two Pulitzer Prizes apiece; Marilynne Robinson received the fiction award for her novel “Gilead,” while John Patrick Shanley received the drama Pulitzer for “Doubt.” Kyrgyzstan President Askar Akayev, who’d fled the country from an uprising, signed a resignation agreement. Coaches Jim Boeheim and Jim Calhoun were elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame.In 2006, an Iraqi tribunal announced that former leader Saddam Hussein will face additional genocide charges for gassing Kurds in the 1980s. Also in 2006, prosecutors said there was no sign of foul play in the death of Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic who suffered a fatal heart attack March 11 while on trial at The Hague for war crimes.In 2007, radio talk show host Don Imus was fired for making what was termed a sexually and racially offensive remark about the predominantly black Rutgers University women's basketball team.In 2008, police raided a West Texas polygamist ranch owned by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and removed 400 minors after reports of sexual abuse of children. Lisa Montgomery was sentenced to death in Kansas City, Mo., for killing Bobbie Jo Stinnett, a mother-to-be, and cutting the baby from her womb. Pirates seized the French luxury yacht Le Ponant and its 30 crew members off the coast of Somalia. (The crew was released a week later; six alleged pirates ended up being captured.) Also in 2008, Chinese paramilitary police killed eight people after opening fire on several hundred protesting Tibetan monks and villagers at a monastery in the Sichuan province.In 2009, a gunman killed three Pittsburgh police officers responding to a domestic disturbance call; suspect Richard Poplawski is awaiting trial. Police in Washington state found the body of James Harrison, who’d apparently shot to death five of his children, ages 7 to 16, at their mobile home in Graham. NATO leaders appointed Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen as the alliance’s new secretary-general during a two-day, 60th-anniversary summit in Strasbourg, France. North Korea launched a long-range test missile despite warnings from the United States, the United Nations and others. North officials said they sought to determine how to put a satellite into space. Also in 2009, rescuers searched for bodies of drowning victims after a fishing boat jammed with a reported 257 illegal immigrants sank 19 miles off the Libyan coast.Today’s Birthdays: Actress Elizabeth Wilson is 89. Author-poet Maya Angelou is 82. Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) is 78. Recording executive Clive Davis is 78. Bandleader Hugh Masekela is 71. Author Kitty Kelley is 68. Actor Craig T. Nelson is 66. Actor Walter Charles is 65. Actress Caroline McWilliams is 65. Actress Christine Lahti is 60. Country singer Steve Gatlin (The Gatlin Brothers) is 59. Writer-producer David E. Kelley is 54. Actor Phil Morris is 51. Actress Lorraine Toussaint is 50. Actor Hugo Weaving is 50. Rock musician Craig Adams (The Cult) is 48. Actor David Cross is 46. Actor Robert Downey Jr. is 45. Actress Nancy McKeon is 44. Actor Barry Pepper is 40. Country singer Clay Davidson is 39. Rock singer Josh Todd (Buckcherry) is 39. Singer Jill Scott is 38. Rock musician Magnus Sveningsson (The Cardigans) is 38. Magician David Blaine is 37. Singer Kelly Price is 37. Rhythm-and-blues singer Andre Dalyrimple (Soul For Real) is 36. Actor James Roday is 34. Actress Natasha Lyonne is 31. Actress Amanda Righetti is 27. Actress Jamie Lynn Spears is 19.Easter Babies Who Have Not (As Yet) Been Resurrected: Social reformer Dorothea Dix (1802); inventor Linus Yale, developer of the cylinder lock (1821); dance school founder Arthur Murray (1895); baseball Hall of Famer Tris Speaker (1888); author/playwright Robert E. Sherwood (1896); broadcast news commentator John Cameron Swayze (1906); blues musician Muddy Waters, born McKinley Morganfield (1915); actor Anthony Perkins (1932); & baseball commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti (1938).4 April in Entertainment HistoryIn 1960, "Ben Hur" won the best picture and best director Academy Awards. The film's star, Charlton Heston, was named best actor. Elvis Presley recorded “Are You Lonesome Tonight?” in Nashville for RCA Victor.In 1963, The Hollies auditioned for EMI Records at Abbey Road studios.In 1964, The Beatles held the top five positions on Billboard's Hot 100. "Can't Buy Me Love" was number one, followed by "Twist and Shout," "She Loves You," "I Want To Hold Your Hand" and "Please Please Me."In 1977, The Clash's first album, "The Clash," was released in Britain. It wasn't released in the US until 1979, because some of the songs' content was judged to be too violent for American ears. [Doesn't that kind of crap just make you want to beat the living shit out of someone? — Ed.]In 1983, actress Gloria Swanson died in New York. She was 84.In 1996, Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir and Jerry Garcia's widow, Deborah, scattered part of Garcia's ashes in the Ganges River in India. He had died the previous August. [Stupid, awful hippies! — Ed.]In 2000, Diana Ross announced a Supremes "reunion" tour, even though the other two Supremes, Scherrie Payne and Lynda Laurence, had never performed with Ross. The tour was later canceled due to poor ticket sales. [The free market works!! — Ed.]In 2002, guitarist Aaron Kamin of The Calling suffered a severe electric shock during a sound check in Bangkok, Thailand. The band had to call off the rest of their international tour.In 2004, musician Beck married actress-screenwriter Marissa Ribisi.Thought for Today: “The only sure thing about luck is that it will change.” — Bret Harte, American author and journalist (1836-1902).

The data collected by John Jay College of Criminal Justice show that between 1950 and 2002, 81 percent of the victims were male and 75 percent of them were post-pubescent. In other words, three out of every four victims have been abused by homosexuals. By the way, puberty, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, begins at age 10 for boys.

No problem can be remedied without an accurate diagnosis. And any accurate diagnosis that does not finger the role that homosexuals have played in molesting minors is intellectually dishonest. The cover-up must end. And so must attempts to muzzle my voice. Everything I am saying is what most people already know, but are afraid to say it. It's time for some straight talk.

Did we miss the Internet outrage about this? Here's some, though Bill's only giving 12 or 13 as the age of "post-pubescence." Funny, but isn't doctrine in Catholic World along the lines of "Wait 'til you're married, & then only for reproduction?" Maybe that's just for heterosexing lay people. If you're "celibate," there may be double-secret rules for you.

Ironic that without sin I suppose there would be no need for religion, Catholicism, or any other church. But without religion, Catholicism, or churches as a whole, there would still be sin. Of that much I am devoutly convinced. Many of the current arguments over the Catholic church re-affirm that, perhaps even more so than do they accomplish any thing else.

Then, an ugly attack on "elitist media hack" Peggy Noonan.

The ugliest attacks are coming from the Left. And I've no reason to believe there's any principle to them, given a willingness to distort facts. I also thing [sic] some in the Jewish community are over-playing this. And Peggy Noonan disappoints, as she seems to do more and more over the years.

Evidently Noonan felt compelled to defend the press, suggesting any potential bias is irrelevant. That's nonsense, especially given the rampant bias employed everyday [sic] when the press reports on politics.

Ultimately, that paints her as neither Catholic, nor conservative, but simply an elitist media hack invested in protecting her position, more so than anything else. But then, I suppose that's an accurate depiction of what she's become. And it seems to be taking forever for people to figure out and admit that her time has come and gone. I doubt the same thing can be said of the Catholic church. But clearly they've found yet another issue to address with some type of reform. Churches do do that from time to time, for better, or worse.

Conveniently unmentioned: The nature of "the scandal," or "issue" that it as the root of the "current arguments."

[C]onversations with those immersed in a right-wing ideology tend to be rather frustrating, if not futile, experiences. In order for political discourse to have any meaning or value, there have to be certain agreed upon facts that serve as a foundation for the dialogue. But as the McClatchy piece notes, that foundation is no longer stable -- conservatives frequently choose to believe versions of events that aren't real, because the make-believe version makes them feel better.

[...]

For all the talk about getting reasonable people with different ideologies into a room to find common ground on a host of complex issues, it's worth remembering that for many political actors in 2010, there isn't even agreement on the basics. When dealing with a large group of influential conservatives who believe FDR created the Great Depression, Theodore Roosevelt was a socialist, and Joe McCarthy was a hero, what's there to talk about?

There you have it. Can't live w/ them, & can't even point out what idiots they are. What more do we need before we round them up & ship them to education camps? (Not reëducation camps: That would imply these remarkable simulacra of humanity had received education in the first place.)

We give no moral authority whatsoever to the Whore of Babylon. Half the damn mackerel-snappers themselves don't. So who the hell does? (Oh crap, now do we have to read it if we want to know who the authoritarian sheep are? Do we care enough? Hell, we like scathing. What are we complaining about? Some would say, "What aren't you complaining about, Bouff?")

Boy Scout Leader Blames Parents for Sex Abuse at Hands of Scoutmaster

Timur Dykes molested young boys as an assistant Scoutmaster. This is a fact. He admitted it. Now, Dykes is in the middle of a $29 million sex abuse case filed against the Boy Scouts of America that is heating up. Eugene Grant, the president of the Boy Scouts council for the Portland metro area, told parents of abused children that they "should not have allowed boys to stay overnight with a single man at his apartment," the Associated Press reported. During cross-examination, Grant called the parents' decisions "negligent" and "criminal." At the time of the abuse—the mid-1980s—the Boy Scouts didn't have an official policy on sleepovers. "I just find it almost incomprehensible to think their children were going to be safe in that type of environment," Grant, an attorney, said, according to the Associated Press. Earlier in the trial, one attorney for the prosecution called Dykes a "pied piper" who filled his apartment with things that would lure young boys in "such as exotic pets, an aquarium and games." The trial, which began in mid-March, is expected to last about a month.

I was going to send you all to another “NO ONE HERE IS RACIST” tea party apologia at Reason magazine [...] but it just gets so tiresome I figured why bother.

[...]

Again, this may be an artifact of my political movement, but I do not remember libertarians being such complete shitheads under Bush.

That being hrs. ago (& how the hrs. pass when crawling through these tubes) we'll throw our two cts. in & note what none of the usual gang of idiots typing there seemed to.

The Reason element looks at the T.People, sees tax-haters, & the familiar ding of the register goes off in the libertarian mind. New financial blood for their magazine & website. (Both refutations of their free market theories.) Add to potential profit the possibility of the political/media energy of those who've taken to the streets w/ their unprecedented show of force, anger & delusion, & you betcha they'll be sticking up for the angry, middle-aged likely voter. No matter how much of an asshole or shithead s/he is.

And it is generally agreed, at Balloon Juice & throughout the civilized world (as well as California) that glibertarians are complete shitheads & assholes.

An array of fantasy projects - from a tank weighing 1,000 tons that no road could support to a long-distance rocket that could have pounded London or New York into brick dust - were debated on the ABC TV show Nazi Secret Weapons.

on the ABC-TV we have in these United Snakes, we have to wonder if this was one of those April Fool deals. One must doubt that they would have called this thing "The Rat."

Today is Friday, April 2, the 92nd day of 2010. There are 273 days left in the year. The UPI Almanac.Today's Highlight in History:On April 2, 1917, President Woodrow Wilson asked Congress to declare war against Germany, saying, "The world must be made safe for democracy." (Congress declared war four days later.) Also in 1917, Jeannette Rankin, a representative from Montana, took her seat as the first woman elected to Congress. [She voted no to that war, was the only representative to vote against WWII, & remains the only woman to be elected to Congress from Big Sky Country. Twice, in 1916 & 1940. Dirty commie. — Ed.]On this date:In 1513, Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon landed in present-day Florida.In 1792, Congress passed the Coinage Act, which authorized establishment of the U.S. Mint.In 1805, author Hans Christian Andersen was born in Odense, Denmark.In 1860, the first Italian Parliament met at Turin.In 1863, rioting erupted in the Confederate capital of Richmond, Va., sparked by an angry crowd's demand for bread at a bakery.In 1865, Confederate President Jefferson Davis and most of his Cabinet fled the Confederate capital of Richmond, Va., because of advancing Union forces.In 1872, Samuel F.B. Morse, developer of the electric telegraph, died at age 80.In 1877, the first White House Easter Egg Roll was conducted.In 1932, aviator Charles A. Lindbergh and John F. Condon went to a cemetery in The Bronx, N.Y., where Condon turned over $50,000 to a man in exchange for Lindbergh's kidnapped son. (The child, who was not returned, was found dead the following month.)In 1974, French President Georges Pompidou died in Paris.In 1980, President Jimmy Carter signed into law a windfall profits tax on the oil industry. (The tax was repealed in 1988.)In 1982, several thousand troops from Argentina seized the disputed Falkland Islands, located in the south Atlantic, from Britain. (Britain seized the islands back the following June.) Audio Fun: British Foreign Secretary Lord Carrington announces the invasion.In 1986, four American passengers were killed when a bomb exploded aboard a TWA jetliner en route from Rome to Athens, Greece.In 1987, the U.S. Senate overrode a Reagan veto by one vote to enact a highway bill that allowed states to raise speed limits to 65 mph in certain areas.In 1991, Iraq crushed monthlong insurgencies by northern Kurds and southern Shiite Muslims.In 1992, mob boss John Gotti was convicted in New York of murder and racketeering.In 1995, an explosion in the city of Gaza killed eight people, including a leader of the military wing of Hamas.In 1999, the Labor Department reported that the nation's unemployment rate fell to a 29-year low of 4.2 percent in March 1999. In 2000, more than 600 people set out on a five-day, 120-mile protest march to Columbia, S.C. to urge state lawmakers to move the Confederate flag from the Statehouse dome. Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi suffered a debilitating stroke (he died more than a month later). Connecticut won its second women's NCAA national championship with a 71-52 victory over Tennessee.In 2002, Israel seized control of Bethlehem; Palestinian gunmen forced their way into the Church of the Nativity, the traditional birthplace of Jesus, beginning a 39-day standoff.In 2004, a judge in New York declared a mistrial in the grand-larceny case against two former Tyco executives after a juror apparently received an intimidating letter and phone call for supposedly siding with the defense. (Former CEO L. Dennis Kozlowski and CFO Mark H. Swartz were convicted in a retrial of looting Tyco of more than $600 million in corporate bonuses and loans; each was sentenced to 8 1/3 to 25 years in prison.) Flags of seven new NATO members from former communist Europe rose at alliance headquarters in Brussels for the first time, marking the biggest expansion in NATO's 55-year history. In 2005, Pope John Paul II, who left a deeply conservative stamp on the church that he'd led for 26 years, died in his Vatican apartment at the age of 84.

Terri Schiavo's body was cremated as disagreements continued between her husband and her parents, who were unable to have their own independent expert observe her autopsy. An Australian helicopter on a relief mission in Indonesia crashed on earthquake-devastated Nias Island, killing nine people on board.In 2006, U.S. journalist Jill Carroll returned to Boston after being held in Iraq for 82 days by kidnappers. Also in 2006, at least 50 people were killed in Iraq in violence that included a mortar attack, military firefights and roadside bombings.In 2007, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are air pollutants under the Clean Air Act. And, in 2007 sports, the University of Florida repeated as NCAA Division I basketball champion, becoming the first school to win both the national collegiate basketball and football titles the same academic year.In 2008, President George W. Bush suffered a painful diplomatic setback when NATO allies rebuffed his passionate pleas to put former Soviet republics Ukraine and Georgia on the path toward membership. Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, who'd helped broker peace in Northern Ireland but couldn't survive a scandal over his collection of cash from businessmen, announced he would resign. The opposition leader in the Zimbabwe presidential election, Morgan Tsvangirai, declared himself the winner over long-time leader Robert Mugabe, who has been in power since 1980, with a reported 50.3 percent of the vote. Mugabe refused to concede, official election results were postponed and widespread violence began.In 2009, leaders of the world's rich and major developing countries met at an emergency G-20 economic summit in London; afterward, President Barack Obama hailed agreements they had reached as a "turning point in our pursuit of global economic recovery," but cautioned, "there are no guarantees." The House and Senate passed companion budget plans, giving President Barack Obama and his allies on Capitol Hill a key victory. A 19-count federal racketeering indictment was returned against former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who denied doing anything illegal. Penn State beat Baylor 69-63 to win the NIT title.Today's Birthdays: Actress Rita Gam is 82. Actress Sharon Acker is 75. Singer Leon Russell is 68. Jazz musician Larry Coryell is 67. Actress Linda Hunt is 65. Singer Emmylou Harris is 63.

Australian auto racer Jack Brabham (1926); singer/songwriter Marvin Gaye (1939). 2 April In EntertainmentIn 1956, the soap operas "As the World Turns" and "The Edge of Night" premiered on CBS.In 1968, the science-fiction film "2001: A Space Odyssey" had its world premiere in Washington, D.C.In 1971, Ringo Starr's first solo single, "It Don't Come Easy," was released. It became a Top Five hit.In 1974, "The Sting" won the best picture Academy Award. "The Way We Were" from the movie of the same name won the best original song and score awards.In 1987, jazz drummer Buddy Rich died of a heart attack.In 1992, country singer Wynonna Judd began her first solo tour in Midland, Texas.In 1997, singer Joni Mitchell was reunited with Kilauren Gibb, the daughter she gave up for adoption 32 years earlier.In 1998, Rob Pilatus of Milli Vanilli died after consuming alcohol and pills in a hotel room in Frankfurt, Germany. He was 32.In 2003, dozens of fans walked out of a Pearl Jam show in Denver after singer Eddie Vedder impaled a mask of President George W. Bush on a microphone stand. Thought for Today: "The future starts today, not tomorrow." — Pope John Paul II (1920-2005).

Almost daily revelations surface of sexual abuse of children in the past, accompanied by allegations of a cover-up. Strategy to defend the pope from being forced to testify in the Pope led Holy Thursday "It is a belief, admittedly a strongly held belief, that's on the fringe of society," Wilbert said of Roeder's argument that killing Tiller was justified because it reduced the number of abortions performed. Wilbert was required to sentence Roeder to life in prison, but he had to decide whether Roeder would be eligible for parole in 25 years or 50 years. St Peter's Basilica and Catholics marked the most solemn week of the liturgical calendar, culminating on Sunday in Easter Day. In the morning the pope blessed oils for Church services during the year. "The Perversion Files," as the Scouts called them, have rarely been seen publicly -- but now, 20,000 pages have been admitted as evidence in the trial. "It's shocking to read case after case of sex abuse of men preying on boys," Boyle said. "What's also shocking - you realize how much the Scouts knew." He washed the feet of 12 priests to commemorate Jesus' gesture of humility the night before he died. But on the day Catholics commemorate Christ's founding of the priesthood, the pope did not refer in any of his sermons to the crisis of confidence sweeping the Church as almost daily revelations surface of sexual abuse of children in the past. I’m not even worried. The machine has been sent for forensic testing to determine what award, if any, Chavez is entitled to. Early census returns are showing that conservatives have been measurably less likely than liberals to return their census forms. A recent article in the Houston Chronicle points out that three weeks ago, Cornyn told reporters he thought GOP Senate candidates would and should run on a platform of repealing the legislation conservative Texas is way behind the national average in returning census forms and some of the lowest rates of abuse of children by priests, cannot be called to testify at any trial because he has immunity as a head of state, a top Vatican legal official said on Thursday. "And you know this actually has a physical keyboard, which a lot of people still want," says CNET's Wood of a cell phone. The interview with Giuseppe dalla Torre, head of the Vatican's tribunal, was published in this year’s 10-question census form. "It is no secret that George Tiller killed unborn babies for a living," Roeder said. "Abortion was illegal in this state 37 years ago, and it should be illegal today." Witnesses told police the man had been stabbing himself with a knife Saturday night at City Farm Market in Inglewood. A store employee says the man confronted him and told him he "killed people," then tried to stab the employee and walked away. Conservatives have been measurably less likely than liberals to return their census forms. The lawyer of a Lebanese TV psychic who was convicted in Saudi Arabia for witchcraft said Thursday her client could be beheaded this week and urged Lebanese and Saudi leaders to help spare his life. Few things will make Nancy Pelosi happier than large numbers of conservatives failing to respond to the census. He said God's judgment against the U.S. will "sweep over this land like a prairie wind." "He will avenge every drop of innocent blood," Roeder said. If we do not respond, we will not be counted and if we are not counted, then we effectively will not exist. Dave Leach, a Des Moines, Iowa, anti-abortion rights activist who has interviewed Roeder, also testified on Roeder's behalf. "He honestly believed he could do some good," Leach told Wilbert. "He was willing to sacrifice his own freedom and life for others." Thompson described his friend Tiller as a devoted husband, father and grandfather and a strong believer in women's rights. He said his office still receives calls from women seeking medical services. As he spoke about Tiller as a devoted grandfather, Tiller's widow, Jeanne, cried. Roeder at times looked away, yawned and took a drink of water. That would reduce conservatives’ power in elections, allow Democrats to draw more favorable congressional boundaries and help put more tax-hiking politicians way behind the national average in returning census forms and abuse of children by priests. The troop leader, Timur Dykes, had already admitted to a Scout official that he had molested 17 boys. Still parents were not notified and Dykes continued to work with the Scouts. In a deposition he confessed to abusing Jack Doe No. 4. Dykes was asked what he did that could be considered molestation. "I handled his genitals," Dykes said to testify at any trial because he has immunity as a head of state, born in Miami in 1941, Roberts spent time in the U.S. Air Force and earned an electrical engineering degree from Oklahoma State University in 1968, according to information provided by his family and Catholics marked the most solemn week of the liturgical, the pope did not refer in any of his sermons to the crisis of confidence sweeping the Church as almost daily revelations surface of forms and some of the lowest rates are in Texas abuse of children by priests. Raised in Ashville, N.C., the rebellious teen says her problems all began when her parents divorced and she was sexually abused by a family acquaintance. "That led to substance abuse, staying out all night long, and running away," Booth said. By the time she was 18, she'd been legally emancipated from her parents, married, and had a baby. No, abuse of children in the past, accompanied by allegations of a cover-up. I’m not even worried about privacy – this year’s 10-question census form is the shortest. [Update: Since the Houston Chronicle article was published, the average national census participation rate has increased to 52 percent and the rates in each On April 15th McRoy was in an Orange County Circuit courtroom when her phone began to ring loudly. McRoy admitted she hadn't checked to see that it was turned off after her sister used it outside the courtroom. McRoy said the judge stopped proceedings and tossed her phone into a garbage can. The appeal court ruling found McRoy did not embarrass the judge or obstruct justice. "And the iPad doesn't, so it's hard to imagine why you necessarily need to switch from [a cell phone] to [an iPad]." McRoy said she hopes to get the phone of right-wingers will attend rallies in cities and towns across the United States. It was not the first attack against a Navy ship, but it underscored the fact that most pirates aren't terribly sophisticated, said Roger Middleton, a piracy expert at the British think-tank Chatham House. Before a federal judge, Justice Department prosecutors will lay out the dirty laundry of the company best known for its elegant Mercedes-Benz autos: a pattern of bribery that for many decades has helped fuel the company's sales and illicitly added millions of dollars to its profits. The organizers of this nationwide day of protest call it a tea party. This tea party movement that emerged only a year ago is a coalition of conservatives, anti-Semites, fascists, libertarians, racists, constitutionalists, militia men, gun freaks, homophobes, Ron Paul supporters, Alex Jones conspiracy types and American flag wavers. I’m not worried about the President’s attempt to run the census out of the White House – we beat that power grab back last year. I’m not even worried Catholics commemorate Christ's trying to do the right thing, but instead they are helping big government liberals by discouraging fellow conservatives from filling out their census forms. Early census returns are showing that conservatives have been measurably less likely than liberals to return their census forms. [Update: Since the Houston Chronicle article was published, the average national census to grow in size and strength there is a big chance they will dominate this country in the near future. If the tea party movement takes over this country they will really hurt poor people by getting rid of social programs like food stamps, unemployment benefits, disability benefits, student aid, free health care, etc. The threat of criminal prosecution didn't stop the illegal activity entirely. "Certain improper payments even continued as late as January 2008," the court papers say. The tea party movement will say these programs must be gotten rid of because hard-working taxpayers cannot afford to pay for these things especially when the economy is in a depression. There are three options Republican strategist Kevin Madden said the repeal message is "a call to action" that excites many conservative voters, who will be important in November. But the risk of talking only about repeal, he said, "is you only define your position by what you're against." On April 15th thousands of right-wingers will attend rallies in cities and towns across the United States. Police followed a trail of blood inside the store to a walk-in refrigerator in the market's warehouse. Two officers shot the suspect multiple times and killed him after he allegedly came out of the refrigerator wielding an ax and lunged toward one of them. If the tea party movement continues to grow in size and strength there is a big chance they will dominate this country in the near future. The tea party movement will say these programs must be gotten rid of because hard-working taxpayers cannot afford to pay for these things especially when the economy is in a depression. There are three options we have with the tea party movement: 1. Organize counter-protests against the tea party demonstrations, same time, same place. This is probably the best option. We need to get in the streets on April 15th and show the tea party movement that there are lots of people out there who oppose their agenda.

We've never seen them, so they're news to us. Not that we aren't sick & tired of these two-tub turkeys, but it makes our heart beat just a bit quicker (which is probably going to kill us quicker) to see what absolute failures these mortal fools be. Especially telling: Inconsistency.

This one more for the odd ideas than the spelling. There are no Xians in Kenya?

At Whiskey Fire a funny-man is coal-raked. We got out of the boat, curious as to the complete unknown or D-Lister who typed the crap & were struck by this masterpiece of contemporary design. (Where "contemporary" has the value of -40 yrs.)

This lends credence to the idea that many of the T.P. people are the "jocks" etc., of the '60s who were too busy being squares to get in on the fun of being tear-gassed &/or having an oinker thwack you w/ his baton; now they're spotting mortality peeping at them & don't want to miss any fun or pay any more damn taxes, damnit, this go-round. Who/whatever these literally thousands upon thousands of protesting patriots are, it's a damn shame there haven't been any more recent revolutionary movements they could look to for inspiration.

Perhaps somewhere (Undisclosed location at a luxury resort?) a secret deal was made between Democrats & Republicans: The Dixiecrats & their racist ways would be welcomed to the Republican Party, & The Left would let the GOP use all the clenched fist & '60s revolutionary (Not Revolutionary War, they've had the three-cornered hat market tied up for a while.) imagery, if & only when a Democrat of recent African heritage was elected President. Probably seemed like a good idea at the time.

Another signal, emerging independent of the Obama-media-industrial-complex, that leftists are not only outside the mainstream, but literally un-American according to key indices of popular culture. Sure, some Democrats are sports fans. But these data really should give pause to those on the left claiming to represent middle America. (And notice the elitists at Democratic Strategist trying to blow off the findings.)

Yes, it's a free country where you can do anything you want, as long as it's watching the same crap on telebision that all the other fucking sheep watch.

AssociatedPress — March 31, 2010 Matt Savino is a colonel in the Michigan Militia Corps Wolverines. He met with the Hutaree leadership in 2006 and describes them as a "religious extremist group." He also says David Brian Stone is "obviously the leader of the group." (March 31)

Follow straight to Hell!

E-Z 4 U

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